Today I’m reviewing Climbey, an obstacle climbing, semi-puzzle game for VR owners on Steam. I played on the HTC Vive. This is a fun, challenging, and rewarding game. It has some really interesting levels, massive levels, polished movement and controls, an excellent little community, and an active developer.

It’s also one of the few VR games that legitimately gives me sweaty palms, vertigo, and balance issues. This doesn’t really bother me and even makes the game unique among my collection, but, if you’re susceptible to motion sickness, you might want to steer away. It also poses a danger risk to smashing things in your play space or possible injury from falling over. I also routinely get tangled in my VR cable despite it being above me on my VR rig. This setup works really well for almost all games, but Climbey still manages to defy it.

Controls

Controls are simple and intuitive, but jumping is hard and inconsistent. It can be really frustrating trying to get around the map because a slight error can throw you backwards for what seems like no reason. I’ve also witnessed many other players trying to learn the game because even jumping a little bit is challenging. Definitely go into the game with some patience and the willingness to experiment with how it works.

The game has free locomotion movement, but be aware that it might fuck you over. It’s one of the rare games where you might actually want to turn free locomotion off because accidentally swiping the trackpad could launch you off an edge and lose a bunch of progress.

Online Multiplayer

Multiplayer is fun and easy to get into. You can play with your friends either cooperatively or competitively. It gives you the freedom to decide. It has a small online community, but people are routinely online, they contribute interesting and fun levels, and my experiences have been really positive. Players actually help each other in multiplayer (reaching down to help pull you passed a challenging climb) which is refreshing to see. The community content also keeps the game fresh and replayable.

Settings & Options

Overall, there is an average amount of settings and options (performance, controls, comfort, server options, aesthetics) but it’s not comprehensive. I’m hoping the developer adds more and more options as the game grows. One thing I don’t like is that some menus have no explanations for buttons and acronyms. Other VR games like Beat Saber have tooltips on hover and this game definitely needs that, descriptive text, or a giant poster with explanations in the starting area.

SteamDB Stats

You can check out their SteamDB stats page here. The main items to point out are:

Excellent 90% rating

Small number of online players, but regularly online

4-5 hours of average play time with potential to increase

$7-$10 to purchase = fairly good price to content ratio (for VR)

Active developer releases many regular updates

Do I recommend this game?

Yes, it’s an excellent VR game and I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s simple, mostly polished, fun, replayable, challenging, and rewarding. There are some negatives like occasional bugs and frustrating learning curve, but overall it’s the sort of VR game and developer we need to see more of.

One of the unexpected benefits of VR is that it’s actually a good workout. You’re standing, moving, bending, and kneeling on a regular basis. Depending on the game, you might be doing these things rapidly which can really get the heart pumping. Now, you might think that there is an upper limit and you’ll never get a gym-worthy workout. That’s where you’re wrong. It took me almost 6 months of owning the Vive to realize there was untapped athletic potential.

It happened after I bought Space Pirate Trainer. I loaded it up, played one round of standard and then immediately switched to hardcore mode (slow motion is for pussies). I started diving, dodging, jumping into furniture, slamming my body against my desk, scraping my knees on the carpet, but overall getting a surprisingly intense workout. Don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly dangerous, but damn is it fun! The next day it got me thinking, if I was that sore from playing a VR game, could I get a truly kick ass workout FROM PLAYING VIDEO GAMES?!

A few minutes later I was on Amazon and ordering a pair a wrist weights. The lower body workout was pretty solid, but I wasn’t getting anything for my upper body. A few days later I strapped them on, loaded up Space Pirate Trainer, and got my ass handed to me. First off, the Vive controllers are INCREDIBLY light. I never realized it until I had the wrist weights on to compare them to. Second, while it’s only 5 lbs on each wrist, moving with those weights for 30 minutes left me sore for days! Disclaimer: I’m also a total weakling so that might also factor in… Regardless, I found that hardcore mode was more of a full body workout because of the intense dodging while normal slow motion mode required longer holding of the weights in front of you. So despite my pussy jab above, mix in both game modes for a slightly different workout.

Then came Beat Saber. If I thought Space Pirate Trainer was hard, it was nothing compared to playing songs on expert. I found myself audibly grunting and yelling trying to keep up with the blocks that were whizzing by. I could feel my muscles screaming as I danced around the room like some sort of bad ass digital warrior. I literally had to buy new face masks because I was sweating so much (gross, I know). I also cancelled my gym membership shortly after because I finally found a way to workout that wasn’t boring as fuck. I’ve also toyed around with some other games like Gorn. You don’t get nearly as intense of a workout, but fighting with just your fists feels really rewarding. There’s also some free games like Hot Squat that might give you a decent workout with the weights on. Hell, any game with the weights on will slowly build muscle over time, so take your pick.

Note: I have no affiliation with these games or the Amazon product. I’m just sharing my personal experiences because I love VR and want it to flourish.

The Steam Spring VR Sale is going on and I thought it might be useful to provide a quick guide on safely buying VR games on Steam. For normal games, I don’t think a guide like this is necessary, but for VR games we’re still in the wild west and there are some “traps” to look out for.

First off, if you’re not familiar, there is an awesome site called Steam Database that logs information about the games on Steam. This is one of the best places to start because you can quickly and efficiently browse Steam’s massive library. You can also optionally connect your Steam account which removes owned items from the list and highlights wishlist items. Here is a quick filter to get you started.

Next up, I check ratings and, if you’re using the Steam DB Chrome extension, you can see the percentage calculations in the Steam store. (No, I am not affiliated with Steam DB, I just personally use it on every Steam sale when I’m hunting for new games) As a general rule, I try to stay at 80% and above for game ratings, but that’s not always a good idea. Some games below 80% are really good and just received bad ratings for a poor launch, DRM complaints, or whatever else. But as a general rule, it’s a good place to start.

Now that we have a well rated game, check if your headset (aka HMD) is supported. Most VR games on Steam support both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, BUT every once in awhile there is one that only officially supports one. For example, I had DiRT Rally in my cart and was about to purchase it until I realized at the last minute it only officially supports the Oculus Rift. Yes, you can probably use Revive or something to make it work, but there are enough good games out there not to bother.

Good, we now have a well rated game that supports your headset. Next up is critical: read the reviews. Search for keywords like “locomotion” to ensure your favorite option is supported. Check to see what sort of content the game has. I almost bought Rise of the Tomb Raider because the YouTube videos online looked interesting, but what I didn’t know was that there is only one level of VR! That would have been a huge disappointment had I not been alerted (thanks Aaron!). I also glance over the reviews to get a base estimate for how much content you can expect. There will always be some crazy people that log 100 hours on a game most people log 2-3 hours on, but you can safely assume there is probably 2-3 hours of content on average. Then compare it against the cost to determine if it’s worth it. This is also a good time to check the negative reviews to see what people are complaining about. People love to complain, so just because there are negative reviews doesn’t mean the game is bad. Look for actual red flags like: “lots of bugs” “abandoned by the developer” and “multiplayer doesn’t even work!”

Related to above, check the latest news and dev updates. The more recent the updates the better and the more frequent the updates the better. If it’s been ages and people are still complaining about persistent bugs in the reviews, it might be worth skipping that title. Other games like Pavlov VR have very regular updates and you get a sense from reading them that the developer is engaged and cares about the community. That’s a good sign.

If you have the Steam DB extension (sorry to plug it yet again) you can also see current, peak, and all-time users. This is another great metric to determine if the game is popular and is especially important if you’re about to purchase a multiplayer title. There’s a few high rated multiplayer shooters on Steam that look great and pass all the marks except for this one. It would be a huge bummer to launch the game all excited only to realize there are literally NO matches or servers being hosted.

Lastly, before hitting the checkout button, I would watch your game on YouTube or Twitch to get a feel for the actual gameplay. There’s been a number of times where I was about to buy a game and realized after watching it that it really didn’t look that fun or wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. Remember that those fancy trailers and perfectly selected screenshots on Steam are carefully curated by someone who wants to sell you a copy of their game. Gameplay footage on the other hand doesn’t lie!

That’s it! If everything on this list checks out, you can greatly increase the odds of purchasing well made VR games with active communities from reputable developers. Congratulations!

Note: this is an updated version of the original post I created for vanilla Skyrim.

Why should I bother?

Skyrim is an amazing game, but if you’re like me and have spent hundreds of hours playing the original version (or special edition), then Skyrim VR will be repetitive despite the added immersion of virtual reality. The mods I share below (and in the original post) serve to create a new experience with as minimal effort as possible. The goal being to create disposable and lethal narratives.

How do I setup mods for Skyrim VR?

Here is the best Reddit article I found covering Skyrim VR mods. If you’re like me, I wasn’t able to get the Nexus Mod Manager to automatically download and install my mods (check the “Manually installing” section). There has also been an update to the article about Vortex, but I haven’t tried that method personally.

Here are a few additional tips to know before installing mods for Skyrim VR:

WARNING: installing mods for Skyrim VR disables achievements! If you care about Steam achievements, then you need to play the base game first.

After manually downloading a mod, extract the contents to your Skyrim data folder here: \Steam\steamapps\common\SkyrimVR\Data. It’s ok to overwrite files as long as that’s what you want the mod to do. For example, I am using the “Static Mesh Improvement Mod” (SMIM) and many of the mesh/texture files require an overwrite. Since I want the improved textures, I overwrote all the files it asked and achieved the mods full functionality. If you’re really worried about it, copy your original data folder as a backup and restore it later if there’s a problem.

Many mods, like SMIM for example, are structured like: 00 Core, 01 Thing A, 02 Thing B, 02 Thing C, 03 Thing D. These are sequential installs with 00 Core being the main files for the mod and 02 Thing B vs 02 Thing C being options. Start by extracting and copying over 00 Core. Then figure out which version of 02 you want to install (if either of them). You can usually find out the differences on the mod page on Nexus. For some mods, you might not even want most of the additional items besides core. For instance, I installed the Vivid Weathers mod, but only used the Core files because I didn’t want the other options it provided. Everything will function properly as long as you installed the Core files first.

Once you’ve picked out all your mods and installed them, download LOOT and sort them. To do this, you need to open the LOOT settings screen, find Skyrim Special Edition, and paste in the full install path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SkyrimVR. Close that screen and select Skyrim Special Edition from the games drop-down and it should load in all the mods you just installed. Click the little sort icon in the top right corner and wait for it to run. Once complete, it will have optimally sorted your mods, BUT because this is Skyrim VR, you will probably need to manually sort the plugins.txt file to match. When I tried clicking Apply, it generated a new plugins.txt file in a different folder and didn’t appear to work properly.

Realistic Damage and Immersion Mods

All the mods recommended below have been personally tested by me and stable on my computer after about 20 hours of play. The only two issues I’ve experienced are noted below on the particular mods (No Essential NPCs and Random Alternate Start). Here are my recommendations to create a new lethal and fresh experience for Skyrim VR:

Here is a brief list of standard mods with high endorsement ratings on Nexus that immediately improve the visual immersion of Skyrim VR: Total Character Makeover, Skyrim Flora Overhaul, Static Mesh Improvement Mod, Realistic Water Two, and Vivid Weathers.

Another high endorsement mod that most everyone considers critical is the: Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.

Next up is Enhanced Blood Textures SE which make combat and death much more visceral.

Amazing Follower Tweaks allows you to entrance the innocent citizens of Skyrim into joining your party. Be sure to adjust their settings after taking control. I recommend turning OFF post-combat recovery, combat regen boost, and boost follower stats. I also set them so they can permanently die. These settings make your followers fragile and boosts the immersion of raiding bandit camps and exploring dungeons. Here is the mod readme so you can better understand what each setting does.

No Essential NPCs theoretically allows everyone in Skyrim to die. I have run into a few here and there that still recover though. Not sure what the issue is exactly, but at minimum it allows 99.9% of NPCs to be killable. This is especially fun when testing your combat skills by killing entire towns of people with your party of 5 via Amazing Follower Tweaks. One WARNING though: turn this plugin on AFTER the opening beheading sequence because there is a possibility your cart will run over an essential NPC which traps everyone in an infinite loop.

Realistic AI Detection 2 SE is another great little mod that alters the detection of enemies and NPCs. A great example is at the beginning when you’re making your way through Helgen keep and encounter the bear in the tunnels below. Normally you can sneak by the bear without alerting it, but with this mod on it will definitely wake up. You can still safely get by before it fully detects you, but it adds to the immersion in my opinion. What bear would allow you to get within 20-30 feet of it without waking up? This is especially apparent in VR.

Smilodon with Realistic Damage add-on + increased difficulty – this setup is what makes every encounter lethal and challenging. Even wild beast like wolves can do some serious damage and archery feels very satisfying. I recommend both the main Smilodon mod with the Realistic Damage add-on (available via the files tab). After both are installed, bump up the in-game difficulty to Expert or Master and prepare to feel the anxiety of truly intense battles. You’ll need to master timing and movement to survive, dodge arrows that would immediately spell your death, and watch allies cut down or be cut down in a realistic fashion. It’s spectacular!

Lastly is Random Alternate Start Reborn SE which allows you to skip the opening beheading sequence and start a new character randomly in the world. This is the mod that allows you to experience Skyrim from a totally new perspective. If you’re a Dungeons & Dragons fan like myself, this mod allows you to define your character’s narrative and purpose in the world. Maybe you wake up in a cave full of bears because you’re a hunter or a poacher. Maybe you wake up on the edge of a dark town because you’re an assassin sent to take out a prominent figure. This mod allows you to explore Skyrim in a totally new and fresh way. Part of the fun too is that you never know where you’ll wake up in the world and it’s fun to develop the narrative as you go. The only WARNING here is that the mod does NOT work by default. You need to add: bLoadVRPlayroom=0 to the SkyrimPrefs.ini under the [VR] header otherwise you’ll start the game with two overlapping menus that are not clickable.

VR Settings and Reversed Audio

For those inclined to do the research, you can add some additional immersion by researching “Skyrim VR INI settings” on Google. There are some great tweaks that can’t be made via the in-game settings like removing enemy health bars.

Another problem I had (and saw elsewhere on the net) was reversed audio. For example, NPCs speaking on my left were coming out the right speaker which severely broke immersion. Some people were claiming that our headphones were backwards! This of course is ridiculous because other games work perfectly fine. Instead, completely unplug the VR base station (not just the HMD side), plug everything back in, and restart Steam VR and Skyrim. This should permanently fix the issue.

That’s it, thanks for reading! If you want, check out my YouTube channel where I’m uploading some of my Skyrim VR gameplay.

This list contains all the VR experiences I’ve played that almost made by best of 2018 list, but had some glaring issue I couldn’t overlook. It contains a mix of free and paid VR experiences, order is not important, and it’s a work-in-progress.

If you’re looking for the best FREE and PAID VR experiences click those links.

Colosse (FREE)- cool art style and fun little story, but too short and nothing to interact with. If you’re looking for a free and quick install and want to spend the 5 minutes to watch it, go for it, but otherwise it’s probably safe to skip over.

Allumette (FREE) – this probably should be on the best free list, BUT I’m biased against the story. It just wasn’t that interesting to me, but overall this is probably worth checking out. It was really well done, it was a solid 15 minutes, and the scale was fascinating. There’s also a moment in the middle that’s worth seeing that took me by surprise.

The Bellows (FREE) – this has some genuinely freaky moments and I had fun swearing in my room as things jumped out at me, but overall I felt it was a little corny or forced. It’s close to being on the best free list, but something about it just isn’t quite there. Props to the free locomotion option though and some truly terrifying moments. Oh and the zero-G effect was cool too.

Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul (PAID) – I really enjoyed this game and physically jumped and recoiled in terror a few times. The story is alright and everything worked well overall. There’s at least a couple solid hours of content, although it feels a bit expensive for what you’re getting. I’d wait for a good sale to pick it up. Not quite best of material, but close.

Trials on Tatooine (FREE) – this was a fun little experience that looks great and is better than their Droid Repair Bay game (although that one is longer), BUT it’s super short. If you’re just looking to experience different things in VR, I’d say check it out, but don’t expect much more than 5 minutes of content.

Wake Up (FREE) – this is an interesting dream-like VR experience that has a solid 30 minutes of content. There’s very little directions so prepare to be patient as you figure out the puzzles. They also don’t have a free locomotion option, which is always sad, but it probably didn’t make sense for this game anyway. Overall, it’s good, but I can’t quite put it on the best free list.

Acan’s Call: Act 1 (FREE) – fun, well-made linear dungeon crawler experience with sword and shield combat. Games like this excite me for the future when they make Dark Souls or Skyrim with full VR. Overall, it’s a good game, but short.

Abbot’s Book Demo (FREE) – I can’t quite put this on the best free list because it’s so short, BUT the vibe was creepy and awesome. It felt like a scene from Dark Souls brought to VR. If you don’t mind it being super short, check it out, otherwise it’s probably ok to skip over.

The Red Stare (FREE) – this is a great game and probably deserves to be on the best free list, BUT it’s slow and you need a fair amount of patience to get into it. Some of it felt a little tedious too, almost like it needed one more game mechanic mixed in to spice it up. Oh and don’t make the same mistake I did putting the card in the wrong slot on the fax machine.

Insanity VR: Last Score (FREE) – this game is downright creepy and disturbing. It’s probably one of the best scary games out there and has a decent little chunk of content, but I can’t put it on the best of list because I wasn’t a fan of the movement system and when you failed it wasn’t quick to jump back in and restart. Worth playing, but not quite a best of experience. Also, just to reiterate, this game is actually disturbing so be prepared.

Quanero (FREE) – an interesting and unique free game with a decent chunk of content, but another that requires some patience to get into and solve. Definitely worth checking out, but not quite best of material.

INVASION! (FREE) – another fun little animated movie with a cute bunny and some silly aliens. It’s too short to be on the best of list, but it’s probably worth the 5 minutes to check it out.

Octopus Bar (FREE) – this misses the mark because it’s so short, but overall it was a weird and fascinating game. Definitely worth the 5-10 minutes, but not quite best of material.

InCell VR (FREE) – this follow up title to InMind VR (FREE) is a significant improvement in multiple ways, but still misses the mark due to a few problems. It requires you to move through the levels sequentially which takes awhile and is too easy (I felt comfortable jumping straight to level 3). It also gets repetitive quickly which could be negated by introducing more gameplay elements in the tutorial or level 1. I also wish they would invest in a real robot voice instead of text-to-speech which just sounds cheap and lazy. Overall though, it’s a fun roller coaster ride that looks spectacular and is worth the 15-30 minutes of casual gameplay.

I’m planning on updating this article periodically throughout 2018 with the best paid HTC Vive VR experiences on Steam. I’m sure many of these games work for Oculus Rift and on other platforms, but I only have a HTC Vive and play pretty much exclusively through Steam.

Note: order is not important, I’m just adding them sequentially based on when I played or when I remembered to add them. This also includes games from all time, not just 2018. And lastly, this is a work-in-progress.

If you’re looking for the best FREE HTC Vice VR experiences head over here.

Portal Stories: VR – this game is free, BUT you have to own Portal 2 to play it so it doesn’t really qualify to be under the best free list. It’s also a tad short and the puzzles are easy, but I had fun playing it and seeing the Portal world up-close and personal was great. There’s also some bonus content at the end that I thought was awesome. Biggest drawback is that there’s no free locomotion option.

Fallout 4 VR – it’s Fallout 4 in VR, of course it’s great! There’s a ton of content and replayability like you’d expect, the controls feel intuitive, and overall it’s a great game. There’s probably more to complain about the base game itself over the VR version of it, but it’s definitely worth playing. Be sure to tweak your graphics in the console/ini because there are some adjustments you can make to significantly improve the visuals without losing performance.

Free Locomotion: YES

Amount of content: easily 20+ hours even if you’ve thoroughly played Fallout 4 before. Content-to-cost ratio is VERY GOOD.

Climbey – this game was surprisingly fun and addictive and the movement/controls felt really natural. Overall I was very pleasantly surprised and would recommend picking this up at some point. Just be aware that you’ll be flailing your arms like a madman and I accidentally punched my nice gaming monitor 3 or 4 times before I had to take a break.

Pavlov VR – if you like Counter-Strike, this game is addicting. It’s competitive, well built, and brings the shooter experience to another level. I can’t wait until CS is fully ported over or the community for this explodes and they add matchmaking. That might be the end of my life outside of VR…

Free Locomotion: YES

Amount of content: 10+ hours minimum with high replayability if you like match-based Counter-Strike style gameplay. You could easily play this for 100+ hours if you’re competitive. Content-to-cost ratio is VERY GOOD.

Skyrim VR – I have been patiently waiting for this for months now and it’s finally here! I had such a blast playing the original Skyrim and immediately knew this would renew my addiction. I do have to admit the game feels the same overall, BUT experiencing it in VR is jaw-dropping. Crank up the settings, install some mods, and spend hours immersed in this endless fantasy world.

Free Locomotion: YES

Amount of content: easily 20+ hours even if you’ve thoroughly played Skyrim before, especially with mods. Content-to-cost ratio is VERY GOOD.

GORN – I finally got a copy of GORN and understand why people say it’s a must-have for any VR owner. I feel like their trailers and the YouTube videos out there don’t do it justice. It’s such a ridiculous yet oddly satisfying and challenging game and the ambience is truly creepy. I highly suggest picking up a copy of this at some point.

Dreadhalls – there’s a part of me on the fence about including this game because it feels like it’s missing a little depth to be “best of” material, but in the end I’m including it because of some key elements. First off, it truly does deliver a sense of prolonged dread as you explore dungeons that feel like a mix between old Heretic and Dark Souls levels. It’s also intelligently designed to reward players who are cautious. If you’re a hardened Dark Souls player you might appreciate that fact. Overall it’s well built and immersive with intuitive controls and has a level of philosophical depth I found captivating. If you’re a fan of dark/creepy games (not necessarily blood-and-gore horror though) and want something new and intriguing this is a great buy at a fairly low cost point.

Free Locomotion: YES

Amount of content: 2-4 hours with replayability due to randomness of the levels. Content-to-cost ratio is GOOD.

I’m planning on updating this article periodically throughout 2018 with the best free HTC Vive VR experiences on Steam. I’m sure many of these games work for Oculus Rift and on other platforms, but I only have a HTC Vive and play pretty much exclusively through Steam.

Note: order is not important, I’m just adding them sequentially based on when I played or when I remembered to add them. This also includes games from all time, not just 2018. And lastly, this is a work-in-progress.

If you’re looking for the best PAID HTC Vice VR experiences head over here.

Fantasynth: Chez Nous – no locomotion, no real interactions, but a sick experience if you like Milkdrop-style visualizations and electronic music. I was blown away and hope they release more tracks or a procedural experience like Milkdrop.

Free Locomotion: NO

Amount of content: 5 minutes

The Body VR: Journey Inside a Cell – this is one of the genres I am most excited for in VR. I think learning about our world through VR experiences could change society. This is an excellent first example of that future and I was in awe learning about the human body. Some basic interactions, no locomotion, and overall felt polished.

Free locomotion: NO

Amount of content: 15 minutes

We Were Here – another genre I’m really excited for in VR. My friend and I started with little explanation and had to figure out how to communicate and solve puzzles. Some of them had the pressure of time against you which added such a great element to the game. I can’t wait to play the sequel.

Free locomotion: YES

Amount of content: 2-3 hours, BUT it could be doubled by playing both sides (the Librarian and the Explorer)

Google Earth VR – very cool VR experience that upgrades the Google Earth experience significantly. I live in Denver and it was fascinating exploring the city from this perspective. Only draw-back is that many areas are still flat (no cool 3D building effect). Overall, definitely worth installing and one of those apps you keep installed forever.

Free Locomotion: YES

Amount of content: 1 hour minimum to explore and get a feel for it, but one of those games/apps you’ll probably return to many times

Waltz of the Wizard – this game was SO cool. I loved every minute of it and there were some mind-blowing experiences. Whoever made this is some sort of genius. Be sure to thoroughly explore the whole thing. There’s about 30-60 minutes worth of content. Hopefully they make a sequel or a full version at some point.

Free Locomotion: YES

Amount of content: 1-2 hours

Belko VR: An Escape Room Experiment – I felt a real sense of urgency and tension in this game. The puzzles were somewhat easy to solve, but overall I thought this was really well done and the ending was shocking. I can’t wait to see how the escape room genre evolves in the future.

The Lab – a must install VR game that’s basically on every best VR games list imaginable. Let’s just leave it at that.

Rec Room – another one of those must install VR games that provides a good chunk of content, weird social encounters with other players, and some genuinely fun mini-games.

Bigscreen Beta – don’t skip out trying this app like I did when I first got my Vive, it will seriously upgrade your movie watching experience. Obviously the resolution is lower than a HD screen, BUT the trade-off of watching on a simulated 50 foot screen in the middle of space is fucking awesome!

Gnomes & Goblins – this one is teetering on the edge of being in the almost-but-not-quite section because it’s so short, BUT what a cool experience overall! It felt so magical and friendly and cozy. It was like they brought a childhood book to life. I can’t wait for the next release!

Senza Peso – wow! What an amazing VR experience. This brought back memories of Myst and Riven and Molten Core from World of Warcraft. It’s only 5-10 minutes long, but I loved every second of it. Hopefully there is more to come!

TheWaveVR Beta – what did I just see? I felt like I was in the realm of the gods. Mad gods who create worlds without meaning or purpose, just because they can. Amazing and fascinating are two words that might describe this game.

Welcome to Light Fields – this is another teetering on the edge of not making this list because it’s short and simplistic, BUT it’s worth seeing. This demo showcases an aspect of the future of VR: photorealistic environments. It’s also just well made and has some really interesting shots.

Here are 10 things to help casual and amateur players become immediately better at Counter-Strike.

1. Don’t die to exposed threats

I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched teammates die to exposed AWPers or run through doorways which were clearly covered. Each hoping they’ll get the glory of the kill. These are stupid risks. Always assume your enemy is accurate and ready. Instead, you should reassess and realize that running in blind is a last resort. I would rather a team run out the clock attempting strategies than lose to stupid risks. At least that way you’re experimenting with what works as opposed to reinforcing the idea that running in is a valid option. Over time this will reduce your deaths, reduce mistakes and stupid risks, increase your odds of winning, and expand your understanding of what’s possible.

2. Don’t over-commit to a kill

Getting a kill is rewarding, but injuring the enemy can be even more effective. By obeying our impulses it’s easy to chase enemies through doorways or around corners in an attempt to secure a kill, but often this can lead to an unnecessary death. It is important to catch ourselves in those moments and be patient instead. Let a supporting teammate throw a grenade or simply hold the position so they have to walk back into your advantage. Let them rotate into your other allies or slowly flank them together. There are many options which don’t sacrifice your advantage, but can still result in you getting a kill. Wait for opportunities when possible, don’t become someone else’s opportunity.

3. Be patient

When things don’t happen immediately I will often seem teammates rotating or revealing their position. Often times it seems like the moment they do, the enemy shows themselves a couple seconds later. Had they been more patient they wouldn’t have exposed themselves to an increased likelihood of death and could have maintained an advantage over the enemy. Sometimes just staying quietly hidden in an area forces the enemy to move slower, allows you to hear their presence, and then gives your team more time to rotate in, as opposed to impatience leading to an immediate firefight, your death, a quick bomb plant, and less time for your allies to rotate in. Be patient and move when you have more information.

4. Don’t panic!

It can be intimidating when the enemy floods into your bombsite or you find yourself clutching a round. I’ve seen players get nervous when the weight of a round rests on their shoulders, understandably so. However, I take solace in these moment when I think about statistics. My teammates may want or expect me to win, but the numbers suggest otherwise. In those moments the likelihood of success drops considerably and so it’s less about winning and more about smart decisions. Are you carrying an expensive weapon? Then maybe focusing on survival is the best option. Do you need to clutch because your eco is low and the enemy is gaining momentum? Then don’t engage, but don’t expect to win, instead attempt to injure. Use hit and run techniques to extend the number of opportunities you have to engage and possibly get a kill. Let the other side get greedy and chase into your positional advantage or keep them busy and let the bomb finish off a player.

5. Have situational awareness

Spread out, don’t move into firing lines, don’t bunch up, and don’t get greedy. Let your team support you as you support them. Share kills. Make sure someone is watching the rear. It can be comical at times how much like a herd we act, all looking in the direction of a recent kill or rotating to support an ally and leaving a position wide open. I’ve seen allies block doorways and one-by-one step through to their deaths instead of all rushing as was planned. A good player needs to recognize what role they should fill from moment to moment.

6. Rush in!

This one is simple, but fails all the time. When your plan is to rush a bombsite, don’t stop because someone shot at you. It sucks to be the first two guys into a bombsite, but it has to happen. Do your job, take the fire, call out the positions, do damage if possible, but don’t stop running. The moment you stop you bunch up which increases the likelihood of enemy fire hitting someone, it increases their effectiveness of grenades, and often blocks teammates from shooting enemies. Give yourself every advantage in those strategies because you’re already operating at a massive disadvantage.

7. Don’t use grenades so much

Don’t think of grenades as weapons, think of them as tools. If you want to kill your enemy a grenade is not an effective option. A bullet to the head is infinitely better. Instead use grenades to delay, distract, and injure. There is just too much time between switching weapons to make it a good tactic. In fact, I’d suggest early on to avoid purchasing grenades at all so you don’t get into the bad habit of pulling them out at bad moments. It is better to stay alive, keep your weapon out, and learn other parts of the game. Master grenades later on or rely on team communication to instruct you when to use them.

8. Don’t throw grenades at your allies

This sounds obvious, but it happens constantly. Allies will get overzealous and injure their teammates or, even more likely, blind them. As I mentioned above, use grenades as tools and call out what you’re about to do with them. More importantly, don’t get greedy and throw HE grenades to try and secure kills when your teammates are chasing the enemy.

9. Don’t reload so much

Early on in my gaming career I had the bad habit of constantly reloading. Game after game I let this bad habit get me killed until I finally addressed it. I know there is an impulse to be prepared and not get caught with your pants down, but reloading is another strategic element of the game. Don’t reload when engaged with the enemy, it makes you too vulnerable. Instead, conserve your shots, back up, and try to find safety if possible. If there’s no way you’re going to make it and the count is low, switch to your pistol, that’s what it’s there for.

10. Plant the bomb!

Always know who the bomb carrier is and be sure to never miss an opportunity to plant. This doesn’t mean choose bad times to plant the bomb and get yourself killed, it just means don’t forget to plant the bomb after securing the site. It also means, plant the bomb when the odds are against you to secure money for your team instead of trying to survive 1-vs-whatever.

11. Bonus: use suppression fire!

This is something I rarely see players do, but suppression fire is real. Don’t worry about wasting ammo, usually you’ll never run out, and delaying a push can give real advantages. Especially if you’re focused on injuring enemies, like mentioned above, suppression fire can be an even stronger barrier to an injured player.